Memories
by Shamera
Summary: Kait sits and thinks about what happened right at the ending of the third book in Dark Visions...


# Memories

by: [Shamera][1]

  
"Kaitlyn! Rob!" Joyce was calling from the front door in a voice wavering between laughter and tears. "There's someone here to see you, and I don't think you should keep her waiting!" They all went, Kaitlyn and Gabriel and Rob and Anna, with Lewis and Lydia following, and Tamsin bringing up the rear with Bri and Renny. When Kaitlyn got to the porch she stopped in astonishment. "_Oh_..." was all she could say. Then she said, "Oh, _Marisol._" It was Marisol, thin and rather wobbly on her legs, supported on Tony's arm. She was pale, but her mahogany hair was the same as Kaitlyn rememebered, and a smile was trembling on her full lips. "I came to see the guy who healed me," she said. "And all of you." "All of them were in it," Tony said proudly. He had a shirt on today, Kaitlyn noticed, and he looked as if someone had just willed him a million dollars. Kaitlyn hugged Marisol, and then she had to stand back to Rob could do it. And then Lydia was coming forward, and Bri, looking as if they thought Marisol might hate them. But she smiled at them instead, and there were more hugs. Those who couldn't hug Marisol hugged each other. And Joyce, with her aquamarine eyes on Marisol's face, looked as if the healing had just begun. "We brought you your kitten, too," Tony said to Anna. "So now everyone's here," Anna said, pressing the kitten to her cheek, then to Rob's. "Hey, yeah- everybody's here! Wait a minute!" Lewis was running. He was back in a moment. "Everybody, scrunch together by the door. Some of you get down. The rest lean in! Get closer!" _I think we're already about as close as we can get,_ Gabriel said, and Kaitlyn was surrounded by silent laughter. "That's it! Hold that smile!" Lewis shouted, and snapped their picture. A flash of light momentarily blinded Kait, but she blinked the red spots out within a few seconds. But she had a smile on her lips that told anyone who looked at her that it was alright, that everything in her life was now okay and that she was at peace with herself. _I think that picture of me's gonna come out really bad,_ Gabriel thought to Kait privately. Though Kait still didn't know how he had managed to master private telepathy, she was glad to have a bit of privacy. "It's not," Kaitlyn whispered mockingly to Gabriel, "It's going to be the usual. And you'll look perfect." _I don't think so,_ Gabriel mused. _Not when I'm standing next to someone like you._ Kait was flattered, but the flattery didn't have enough time to register in her head before the ring of friends hussled everyone inside the house once again, and Kait found herself helping to support Marisol. "Thanks," Marsiol said to her. "I always knew that you would never serve Mr. Zetes." Kaitlyn smiled broadly for Marisol. "I'm sorry about doubting you before. I was the told who told Joyce how strange you were acting. That was my fault." "It isn't your fault," Marisol said with a practiced tongue, as if she had to tell a lot of people this before. "You had a right to be suspicous." Kait smiled again, but didn't say anything to deflect that. Marisol looked at her a bit strangely. "Maybe you could use a little rest, Kait," she said worriedly. "You look like your going to collapse right on your feet!" "I don't need anymore sleep," Kait said with a sigh. "Everyone's telling me I should, even Gabriel. I just need to sit down a bit to think." "Then go!" Marisol was mentioning to the stairs. "Anyone who tries to go up, I'll say you need your rest. Even Gabriel can't bother you." "I wouldn't be so sure," Kaitlyn said, straining not to show the doubt on her face. Even since Gabriel, Rob, Anna, Lewis, and her had been connected telepathiclly by accident once, she wasn't sure if she would be able to get rid of the link, even for a few moments. "But thanks, I'll try." Marisol smiled, and Kait went up the her room slowly, still minding how the second floor was littered by Jackyl Mac's voodooism. At least, that's what she called it now. No one had enough time to clean the old psychic students' rooms, and now Kait was just going to have to deal about it. But now clean it up. Oh no, not now. Settling herself into a comfortable chair in her and Lydia's room, Kait gave out a sigh. There had not been enough time for her to think ever since she had realized Mr. Zetes' evil plan to control her and her friends. Sure, there were times to think, but not about the whole picture- as in what had happened. They had to be aware of Mr. Zetes, careful to cover their tracks, and careful to know when to run. But now, Mr. Zetes was dead. Destroyed along with the last ancient crystal on Earth. Also the last crystal used for evil. Kait sighed again dramatically, and took out a set of pastels, and a large piece of paper. Her hand was feeling very cramped and ichey, and this time Kait didn't have the strength to stop herself from drawing. But as she was drawing, she always wondered into a daze.   
"She talks to animals" Lewis said. Anna said gently, "I don't really talk to then. I can influence them to doing things- sometimes. It's a kind of thought projection, Joyce says." "I've got PK," Lewis said. "That's psychokinesis. Mind over matter." "Like... spoon bending?" Kait asked uncertainly. "Nah, spoon bending's a trick. Real PK is only for little things, like making a compass needle deflect. What do you do?" Dispite herself, Kaitlyn's heart bumped. She's never in her life said aloud the thing she was going to say. "I... kind of see the future. At least, I don't, but my drawings do, and when I look back at them, I see that they did. But usually only after the thing has already happened," she finished incoherently.   
Kaitlyn blinked, but her hand kept drawing like it had a mind of its own. And that's probably what it does have. This drawing was very detailed, not like her usual cartoons. A few moments later, she fell back into the daze. "This is weird-" she began. She never finished the sentence because _it_ hit her. Just what _it_ was, she couldn't tell. Like Rob's healing transfusion of energy, it wasn't something you could see or hear or taste. But while Rob's energy flow had been wonderful, invigorating, and intense pleasure, this was like getting hit by a runaway train. Kaitlyn had the feeling of being violated. And while it didn't trigger any of her normal senses, it mimicked them. Kaitlyn smelled roses. She felt a burning in her head- a painful searing that built until a light like one of Lewis's flashbulbs went off in her brain. Then, through the explosion, she heard a voice. Gabriel's voice. _Get out of there! He just came in the back door!_ For a moment Kait stood paralyzed. Knowing that Gabriel could communicate directly with her mind was very different from the _feeling_ of it. Her first reaction was that she was hallucinating; this was impossible. Rob was gasping, "My God. He's a telepath."   
Kait could feel herself smiling at the sheer ironic thoughts. None of them had known that Gabriel had been telepathic, and because of that, they had all been linked together telepathiclly. Not completely possible. But they had. And the only way to break that bond was for someone in their little group to die. Gabriel had been so angry- furious that he had actually done that and now they were going to have to live with it for the rest of their lives. Kait's smile disappeared a little. It had nearly driven Gabriel insane. Just as the moving her of hand right now was driving Kait mad with wanting to know what she was drawing, she didn't want to disturb her hand. _Now isn't that interesting...?_ Kait thought to herself, making sure that her thoughts were private. Me not wanting to disturb my own hand. Her thoughts drifted the when she first found Mr. Zetes to be evil, but she couldn't stay on the thought. Eventually, though, Kait fell into the dreamlike state again.   
"But we can take care of that problem," Mr. Zetes said, looking up and speaking more briskly. "And once its over, we'll get to our real work. Always assuming you're interested, of course?" "You're _insane_. You're completely insane, you know that? Everything that you said is completely _insane_. How can you talk about people being reduced to idiots as if- as if-" She was degenerating into sobs and incoherence. "And _Marisol_," she gasped, "how could you do that to _her_? And you want to turn us all into- you're just completely, totally _crazy_. You're _evil_." Mr. Zetes was less surprised than she was. "Evil?" He said, frowning. "I'm afraid that's a very emotional and inexact word. Many things that seem evil that are, in a higher sense, good." "You don't _have_ a higher sense!" Kaitlyn shouted. "You don't care about anything except what you can get out of us!" Mr. Zetes was shaking his head. "I'm afraid I can't waste any in time arguing right now- But I honestly hope that you'll see reason eventually. I think you will, in time, if I keep you here long enough."  Kaitlyn shook herself fully awake. She had told Marisol that she didn't need any more sleep, and she was going to live up to that. By now, her hand had finished drawing. But strangly, it didn't look like any future predicments. It looked like it may have been the picture that Lewis took. In fact, she was almost sure of it. Everyone was in that picture (surely the reason why it took Kait so long to draw it) and they all looked really happy. Besides, there was finally time for Kaitlyn to get everything into her mind. And that was _everything_. She was going to get through everything that happened, and find those memories a safe place in her mind. Her eyes darted over the picture approvingly. It looked very real, and the joy in the faces itself predicted a wonderful future.   
Clear your mind. Now think of Lydia. Think of drawing Lydia... Let the picture come.Back lines radiating outward. Kaitlyn saw the image and let her hand transfer it to the paper. Now some black grapes mixed in. Blue for highlights- that was Lydia's hair. The pale fleshtones for Lydia's face and the celadon green for Lydia's eyes. But she felt she needed to use black again. Heavy strokes of black, lots of them, above and around Lydia's portrait, forming a silhouette that seemed to be cradling Lydia, encompressing her. Kaitlyn's eyes opened all the way and she stared at the drawing. The broad-shouldered silhouette with body lines that swept down like a man in a coat... In one furious motion she was on her feet. I'll kill her. Oh my God, I'm going to _kill_ her...   
Kaitlyn smiled as she recalled the memory. That was how she first saw Lydia, as a spy working for Mr. Zetes. That's what her picture had said- that she was connected to Mr. Zetes. It turned out that she was his daughter- Lydia Zetes- but she hated her father with a passion, and that she knew he was evil. Their first meeting might not be good, but at least they were friends now. She ran a hand over her painting, accidentally smuging a small bit. But it was barely noticable, and Kait ignored it. Her friends. Amazing how she thought of it. Just before she discovered her full powers her wish had been to make friends. And when she did, her wish was to stay alive. Now, she mused, her wish would be that the bad guys won't return and that she would be able to live happily ever after. Happily ever after. How had they learned to destroy the crystal? Oh yeah...   
"Am I cured?" Gabriel asked, a completely innocent question. He was looking straight at Mereniang. "Oh- no." For the first time, the dark woman looked uncomfortable. She couldn't seem to hold Gabriel's eyes. "I'm afraid that there probably is no cure, except the destruction of the crystal that made you this way. But any crystal which produces energy can help you-" Rob interupted, too overwrought to be polite. "Just a minute. You mean destroying Mr. Zetes's crystal will cure him?" "Possibly." "Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's destroy it!" Mereniang looked helplessly at Timon. All the members of the Fellowship were looking at each other the same way. "It isn't that easy," Timon told Rob gently. "To destroy that crystal, we must first destroy _this_ crystal. The only way to shatter it would be to unite it with a crystal that's still pure. Still perfect." "And this is the last perfect crystal," Mereniang reminded them. "So- you can't help us." Rob said after a moment. "Not in that, I'm afraid." Mereniang said quietly.   
And in the end, they managed to defeat Mr. Zetes. But what if Joyce and Lydia and Bri and Renny hadn't deflected? Kait didn't know. They didn't do much, but they did help now and then. And they gave Kait and Gabriel time- the time they desparetly needed for Rob, Anna, and Lewis to come to their rescue. That was something, at least. But they weren't always the good guys. Kait still remembered when they had both been the bad guys, been _evil_...   
"You think you're better than us, don't you?" Bri shouted. "You're Little Miss Resonsible, teacher's pet. You can use all the water you want to. You've never had it hard." The sentences were disjoined, and again Kaitlyn had the sense that something was _off_, as if Bri couldn't actually get a fix on what was making her angry. But her anger and resentment was clear enough. "Everybody's darling," she mocked, cocking her head back and forth, with a finger on a chin- a bizarre Shirley Temple impersonation. "Looks so _sweet_-" Kaitlyn's temper snapped, and she slammed Bri against the wall. "You think I've always had it easy?" she yelled into Bri's face. "You don't know how it was back in Ohio. I was in the wrong side of the tracks anyway, but to top it off, _I was a witch_. You think I don't know what it's like to have people cross themselves when you look at them? When I was five the bus driver wouldn't take me to school. She said my mom ought to get me blessed. When my mom died-" Tear were running down Kait's cheeks now and she was losing her anger. She slammed Bri into the wall again and got it back. "Kids at school used to run up and touch me for a dare. And adults would get so nervous when I talked to them- Mr. Rukelhaus used to get a _twitch_ in his eye. I grew up feeling like something that ought to be put in a zoo. Don't tell me I don't know what its like. _Don't tell me!_" She was winding down and her breath was slowly catching. So was Bri's. "You dye your hair blue and do stuff to look weird- but you're doing it yourself and you can change it. I can't change my eyes. And I can't change what I am." Suddenly embarrassed, Kaitlyn let go of Bri's arms and looked around for a towel. "You're okay." Bri said in a voice that Kait never heard her use before. Not the sneering tough-girl voice. Kaitlyn turned around, startled. "Yeah, you're okay. I thought you were a goody-goody wimp, but you're not. And I think your eyes are cool." She looked more sane since when Kait had met her. "I- well, thanks. Thank you." Kaitlyn didn't know whether to apologize or not; she settled for saying, "You can use the showers now." Bri gave her a friendly nod.   
Kait couldn't resist to grin. Sabrina Jessica Gallo, one of Mr. Zetes old students which had been driven insane by the crystal. But now that the crystal was destroyed, Bri was just an ordinary psychic girl. Not evil, and certainly not insane. But some of the old students couldn't be saved. Some of them were just turned too _far_...   
At first all Kaitlyn was able to take in was her disgust and horror. It was something like the disgust she felt at home when her dad would turn over a shovelful of earth in the garden- and reveal something soft and squirmy or hard and chitinous hiding underneath. A little like that, but magnified hundreds and thousands of times. She guessed those two things were human. Or had started out that way. But they looked so deformed and felt so _wrong_, they gave her the sick feeling she'd first saw a potato bug, that huge, unnatural, semicrustacean-looking insect. Or when she'd seen her first picture by Hieronymus Bosch, the artist who did senses from hell, with people who had lobster's claws or windows in their body. The other thing she knew imediantly was that they were guard dogs. Mr. Z's new guard dogs, put here to protect the crystal. Sasha and Parte King. I should run, Kaitlyn thought dispassionatly. But the thought seemed to die somewhere before it got to her legs. She stood still and watched the swollen white grub thing inch it's way towards her. It was like a human being in the process of mutating into something. A pupa. Parte King was making a clicking noise in his throat. Pushing himself into sitting position. Both wore canvas jackets which held their arms behind their back with many straps. Oh God. A straitjacket.   
Kaitlyn shuddered. Sasha and Parte King, the two old students with the most talent- and put in contact with the crystal the most. They turned into something zombie like, but not exactly. She had heard that they were really nice boys, Sasha being someone that Bri had liked a lot. But that time... that time they were totally under Mr. Zetes's control. He turned them into psycho psychics. "Are you okay?" A voice asked, and Kait jumped out of the chair and at least three feet into the air, dropping her picture. She turned suddenly. "Gabriel! You scared me!" Gabriel grinned. "I can see that. Why were you up all alone here anyway? They're having a party downstairs, you know. Just to for Joyce, Bri, Renny, and Tamsin. You know, those who's going back to the Fellowhsip." He took a few steps towards her. Kaitlyn relaxed a bit. "I thought Marisol was going to cover my escape for me." "Well, even she got worried." Kait leaned against Gabriel comfortably. She suddenly remembered how she first saw him. _Chiaroscuro,_ "What?" Gabriel asked, a bit distracted. "Oh, nothing." Kaitlyn said. "I was just thinking to myself." "Uh-oh. But what does that mean?" "Nothing to worry about." "You sure?" "Yes. I'm just going over everything that happened." "Huh?" Kaitlyn smiled. "My memories."   
  


¤¤End¤¤

  
  


[Dark Visions][2]

   [1]: mailto: sitafire@hotmail.com
   [2]: http://www.gurlpages.com/shamera/d_visions.html



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